Now is time to revamp dog office

The retirement of the Lucas County dog warden provides the perfect opportunity to revamp the entire animal-control system in Lucas County. The county commissioners should take the time to consider the possibilities rather than return to business as usual.

Both cats and dogs should be licensed because they are both part of the animal overpopulation problem. Why do cat owners get off the hook? The dog warden needs to become the animal control officer.

Animal control is not a new concept and Lucas County needs to consider modified license fees for nonreproducing pets versus intact pets. They might go as far as the recent Las Vegas decision requiring all pets four months of age or older to be spayed or neutered unless you have obtained an exemption.

The commissioners need to eliminate the breed-specific vicious-dog ordinance. After practicing veterinary medicine for 37 years, I can say that there is no hard rule that allows me to prejudge a specific animal. It is more a function of misguided breeding selection and owners unqualified to handle and train a specific dog.

Other options are the licensing of animal breeders, including those who sell animals within Lucas County but reside outside of the county; encouraging the use of microchips to establish more accurate identification of animals picked up by control officers, even substituting micro-chipping for a license; cooperating with the established humane organizations and rescue groups to assist with the adoption of worthy animals to responsible owners, and facing the fact that euthanasia will be necessary in some circumstances.

The commissioners have a daunting task before them and it will not be without controversy. Will they have the courage to make Lucas County a better environment for our pets?

Wayne North, DVM

Collingwood Boulevard

My concern for my country and my freedom is beginning to affect my health. Since I am in the late 60s, it is dangerous to have my health affected because, when my government replaces my freedom of choice with national health care, I will be too old to be treated for serious health concerns.

The blatant disregard of the Constitution by officials in Washington taking over banks, auto companies, and health care is appalling. It is time again for a revolution for taxation without representation. A huge increase in taxes coming is unacceptable.

I have urgently requested my senators and representative to vote against the bailouts, stimulus package, raising taxes, and this outrageous health-care bill, and I am being totally ignored, as are most of my friends who have done the same. Most people do not want a government takeover. Where is one program that the government runs that is successful?

My grandchildren are being burdened with debt that will never allow them to be free and able to take care of themselves and their families. Our government is too big; we have lost our patriotism and work ethic and have become a nation of entitled people, where the government is going to take care of everything.

Since capitalism is being destroyed, where will the jobs and the companies be that will provide workers to contribute taxes to the government to pay for all the entitlements?

Beverly Schaefer

Maumee

As the Senate debates how to bring health insurance to all Americans, let's focus on keeping people healthy in the first place. Science continues to report evidence that exercise is medicine, shown to help prevent chronic diseases, from diabetes and depression to osteoporosis and cancer.

Some in Congress (such as members of the Fitness Caucus) get the message: By encouraging healthy lifestyles, we can save many Americans the heartbreak of debilitating illness. Individuals enjoy better quality of lives; employers gain from greater productivity, and we all benefit from reduced health-care costs.

Research has shown that exercise boosts the immune system, helping people shorten illness or avoid it altogether. Physicians who understand the power of prevention through healthy lifestyles say "Eat well, walk more, and you may not have to call me in the morning." It's common sense, it's based on science, and increasingly, it's doctor's orders.

The action steps are clear, for Congress and for all of us. House and Senate members must support programs to help Americans follow healthy lifestyles. Each of us should eat a balanced diet, avoid tobacco and stay physically active. It's a simple prescription with a very big payoff.

James Pivarnik

President

American College

of Sports Medicine

Attorney General Eric Holder, with the full approval of President Obama, is planning to rip open the slow-healing wounds America suffered on the infamous day eternally referred to as 9/11. He is set to produce a show trial in New York City starring the terrorists who committed those atrocities. Theaters on Broadway may as well shut down for the next three or four years. The only show in town will be at the Manhattan federal courthouse, a stone's throw from the vacant area where the World Trade Center once stood. Ushers at this gig will include a task force of police armed with automatic weapons. The city and the nation will be on high security alert during this protracted performance.

No good can come of this. Taking these mass murders out of the secure hands of our military and affording them the protection of a civilian justice system established by the free people they seek to destroy is a travesty. What moral reasoning can justify this decision? The attacks were an act of war. The perpetrators eagerly wished for death as they performed their dastardly deeds. Why should the victims of their malevolence grant them an opportunity to use the largest showground in the world to propagandize their evil philosophy?

The financial providers for this production are U.S. taxpayers. It is time for us to demand that Congress bring down the curtain on this farce and return those jihadists to a military tribunal, along with instructions to expedite their wish for death as quickly and as quietly as possible.

Frank E. Miller

Maumee

In Jack Lessenberry's Nov. 20 column, he berated Gov. Jennifer Granholm for not having closer ties with China. What exactly do we make in Michigan that they don't already make in China cheaper?

What are we supposed to offer? They overtax cars and the products we do manage to send over to "encourage" the Chinese to buy Chinese.

And what could "other top Michigan leaders" want to bring over here from China that Wal-Mart isn't already bringing?

We all know that China isn't going to be sending any of their communist government-owned-and-regulated companies over here to incur higher wages, health benefits, five-day work weeks, and actual environmental protections.

So why else would any sane politician want to cozy up with a communist regime? That's outrageous!

Andrew Segovis

Ottawa Lake

The company I work for was bought out and I will no longer have health insurance.

I am being treated for cancer at this time. They are offering a health plan for $3,000 a month with a deductible of $5,000.

It's amazing that what you work for all your life can be gone in such a short time.

CONNIE STANFORD

Wallace Boulevard

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